I personally stand astounded before the "viligante patrol" comment. Unarmed citizens did some patrols in a desperate attempt to reduce crime. No one was harmed ever by any person who did these patrols, ever.
And once again it is important to emphasize that they were completely unarmed, just walking on the street, I don't see how could anyone question the rights of citizens to walk the streets. But at the same time there are ARMED TO THE TEETH militias in the USA who are fully and legally armed, and in many states they "open carry", that is they display firearms when they walk the streets and go into shops etc.
There are hundreds of millions of guns in North America owned legally and I don't see a huge number of articles being alarmed by heavily armed groups in the USA. Why? Because they don't really shoot anyone, criminals do. What crazy world is this when unarmed citizens who never hurt ANYONE are demonized. By the way using the term "vigilante" for this case is an extreme slur. Vigilante is someone who "punishes" an alleged lawbreaker, which implies that people were seriously hurt and attacked by the patrolling groups, when in reality all that happended was that public security got a bit better at the time of the patrols, go figure...
It's an extreme statement as if I said American gun owners are racist militants who are busily arming themselves for the race war. Nothing but pure defamation.

Sir,
you write in your report about the row over the media law, the warnings about a new "Führerstaat", far rights groups etc.
So far so good.
But, you write about Budapest's 'dazzling' cultural life, and some other features that might make life tolerable here. You write about good Hungarian artists who left the country, apparently because it is not at all 'cool'. Orbán, the Hungarian PM is on the road to create a "Führerstaat", as the German press so cutely pointed out.
We know that all great artists use to live exactly at the spot where they were born; except Hungarians, and you utter something that can be understood as an approval. Your article must have been sponsored by some travel guide or you have succumbed to the charms of Fidesz's new UK PR company, despite the fact that that company must have been created by pupils of Joseph Goebbels and Kim Jong-il.
Vitamin C was invented? Veeeery interesting! Vitamin C has been there for ages, just like background radiation of space or any planet, so these things simply cannot be invented! Please refrain from using a verb with positive connotations in connection with anything Hungarian, because we know what truth is: kapos are being hired to oversee forced labour. If we look at the facts, we must realize that we'll be the first post-WW2 fascist state in Europe! And your post makes things even worse; and anyway how dare you hint that not we Hungarians are the worst scum of all peoples ?!

Take the VOLT Festival as the closing party of the presidency is awesome! I am glad that this touristically attractive event became part of the presidency and not a boring, uninteresting conference with only audience 50+. Youngers are also catched by this initiative and they can feel themselves adressed.

I think the turning presidency of the EU is a lot less significant politically since the Lisbon Treaty. Meanwhile it still gives a great opportunity to a member state to turn the international public’s attention to its culture. The Hungarian Presidency had to take this. The image of a country is not only influenced by its actual political and economic situation, but its historical background, its cities, its art etc. People are not touched emotionally by EU policies but by an art exposition in the Ludwig Museum. Even if they are not agree with every aspect of the actual governance they can get some positive touristic and nightlife experiences of the country and keep them in long term. If you take Italy for exemple, at first you don’t think of the current government neither the bad waste traitment. That’s why place branding for instance should be shaped by long-term strategies. I wish this government in Hungary can take this step and start something new.

I find the article fairly nice. I do not live in my country, so whenever my collegues visit Budapest they ask for advice - quite a responsability in some way, so I am always concerned about their actual experiences. The dozen or so of them who visited Budapest were all ammazed. A good way for myself to view city of birth from a different angle ;)

Also, I try reading political opinions of all colors. My starting point as a "kid" was Nepszabadsag, the main socialist daily. I moderate and accurate source of information - most of the time. Nevertheless, about a year before elections they start to change tone and become more and more one-sided, culminating before the elections and disappearing soon after. I also used to be great fan of Tivadar Farkashazy, a liberal thinker and its owner/editor (?), who recurrently said during the previous Fidesz government (1998-2002) that he criticises the government independent of its color. In 2004, when Socialists ruled and (to put it mildly) provided already great stuff for criticism, I was wondering why this guy is just keep joking about the previous Fidesz gov and ignore more topical developments.

What I am trying to say here is that the socialist/liberal media, self-proclaimed defendant of justice and (media) freedom tends to lie in a coordinated manner, most of the time rather convincingly and with apparent talent.

So I personally cannot agree on "a disturbingly unfree media" (Nicholas in Bp). Media works well, you find stupid and arrogant opinions as well as good and intriguing ones. I find rather encouraging that conservatives dailies regularly criticise the government, and the fidesz-sponsored Heti Valasz publishes articles like the one in its 26 May edition on how the gov may screw up (again) economic reforms.

The problem with Budapest is that is economically squashing the rest of the country. Budapest is making 40% of the national GDP and so is dwarfing any other local competitor. It is too centralized. Other capitals are more balanced compared to the rest of their respective country. Warsaw is making 12,5% of Poland’s GDP, Bucharest 20% and Prague 25% of Romania’s and Czechia’s national GDP respectively.

As always, it is funny to read all the ill-informed comments about Hungary. The desperate fury of the those behind these rants makes me satisfied about the direction Hunagry is heading to.

However, it is sad, that The Economist still fails to deliver a proper analysis about Fidesz's success in terms of turning around the economy. Just over a year ago the country needed emergency financing, now it not only does it from the market, but the economy shows sign of revival - just look at the record breaking positive account balance.

Oh, what the German and other left wing press says about the country is irrelevant. They also wrote, that nazis are marching on the streets. Makes me remember the press of the communist era - too absurd to believe, but sometimes too dangerous to ignore.

Seriously I don’t know what you guys are talking about: as the article says the cultural and nightlife in Budapest is absoulutely fantastic you just have to come here and check it. This city deserves to be well-known all over the world. Therefore Budapest should be „branded” in some way meaning if you have something particular you just have to show it to gain more interest. I am glad that finally the political leadership find that important too.

PS: Concerning the new proposals of the government before criticizing (which is a good thing per se) I think it’s important to think it over why they are needed? Lack of governance and changes in the past years?

I see The Economist (like the Daily Telegraph the other day which had an unbelievabe fluff piece allegedly by an Orban Clone)has succumbed to the charms of Fidesz's new UK PR company...

But for PR to be effective it has to have at least a strand of credibility and this *news* on several levels is most certainly lacking in that department.

Budapest would do more than fine by itself without the involvement of Mr Orban's Culture Dept. "culture", as defined by the present regime manages to mix and employ the influences of Kafka, Joesph Goebbels, Kim Jong-il and more than a dash of Mr Bean. Which is interesting in its own way, I suppose, if they kept to the abstract but unfortunately they are determined to also control with the reality (one is almost tempted to say the "social reality")of the here and now... hence "resigning" directors of the Holocaust Museum, radio stations "losing" their licenses, "closing" clubs etc and etc.

I agree with the previous comment that Budapest will survive and prosper despite the "help" of the Fidesz apparachiks mentioned in the article. "Culture", in its manifold forms tends to thrive in times and places where the government attempts to direct and suppress it.

As the local district Fidesz administration shut down Zold Pardon, Fidesz has everything to do with this decision. I don't see how that can be pinned on Demszky.

Whatever you may think of ZP, it is a centre of pop culture. Many beginning acts get their first big gig there. As Budapest's biggest nightspot it is a prime example of 'hip Budapest'. Closing it down is inconsistent with the Hungarian presidency's campaign to promote Budapest as a 'with it capital'. I don't know why this wasn't pointed out to Mr Boszormenyi.

As far as the ghetto goes, a famous British politician was similarly disinterested in peoples of whom we known nothing in a country far away. His career ended badly. I am interested in what happened in this ghetto, again because of the glaring inconsistency between a hyped Roma strategy in Europe, and complete inaction at home.

What happens in the banlieues of Paris is not relevant to this discussion. There is something eastern European about bringing them up. The Hungarian communists always used to respond to criticism with ' look what the Americans are doing to the negroes.' It is also plain wrong. The banlieues of Paris often feature in the international press. Many conservative Hungarians feel that Hungary is being singled out. I don't know why, for better or worse it gets the same coverage as other countries in similar situations.

I refer to Mr Karcsika's comment It always is the case. The reports get washed away by some events and we forget how we came from the beginning to the end but we have the end all fast. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

The Orban government just submitted a new bill that they will
make into the law in a few days:
they plan to introduce forced labour!!!

They need kapos too, so they want to force back retired policemen
to serve as overseers.

Their running amok cannot be stopped: they stuff the Constitutional
Court by September 1st, and retire senior judges by January 1st.
Orban & Fidesz have disbanded every single institution checking their power.

Europe, we need your help to stop the creation of the first post-WW2 fascist [not exaggeration] state in Europe!

Blaming the FIDESZ government is ridiculos. Budapest is in a desperate state because of the 20 years rule (missmanagement) of the "liberal" previous mayor, Gábor Demszky. And I really feel sorry for self-prclaimed "intellectuals" above 60 and who are loosing their previous power and calling this phenomenon "dictatorship"??

And I can't understand why everyone is dealing with the gypsies and the right-wing extremists and what is happening in the ghetto far away in the middle of nowhere. It is about the cultural life of the city?Who is dealing with the banlieues in Paris?And calling ZP as a cultural value is quite an interesting opinion?

The media is more free and balanced than it has ever been in the last 20 years

The Hungarian presidency is trumpeting a Roma strategy that was mostly the work of the Belgian and Spanish presidencies that preceded it. Hungary then demonstrated its commitment to its own Roma by allowing right wing paramilitaries to take over the village of Gyongyospata. I don't think the international media should be blamed for ignoring what seems to be a blend of EU waffle and Hungarian window dressing in favour of reporting on a very tangible problem.

Budapest does not require rebranding by spin doctors, as it simply has been the hippest capital in the region for years thanks to the Sziget festival and its great ruin-gardens. The present local Budapest Fidesz administration is, however, doing its best to wreck this hip image by attempting to shut a number of the ruin gardens down. The most telling example being plans to replace heaving teenybopper hot spot Zold Pardon by a nationalist monument to the new constitution in the shape of a giant flagpole. I have to admit I feel for poor Mr Boszormenyi Nagy and his impossible brief.